For almost two weeks Guatemalan protesters have been calling for the resignation of Attorney General Consuelo Porras. The citizens have reason to believe she is attempting to undermine the popular vote that made progressive Bernardo Arevalo president. Thousands of Indigenous people have made it abundantly clear that Porras and many different attorneys must resign due to their actions threatening the country’s democracy. After their demands were not taken seriously or heard, an anonymous group posted to social media “Anonymous will attack the Government of Guatemala, but this time we will not come alone.” The hackings came thirteen days of protests and road closures. A representative of Anonymous, the hacking group stated “Everything we do is to support humanity, and now in Guatemala, in support of people who are in the streets, fighting against corruption and impunity. In the eyes of the authorities, this is a national security matter, and they will respond accordingly.
Opinion: What’s going on in Guatemala is nothing but a sign of an unstable government. First off, because of the weak defenses, low IT budgets, and limited IT staff in Guatemala it was more accessible to hack into the government websites. DEspite this of course it was not right what the hackers did, but to address the reasoning behind it we can look at the Guatemalan government. The history of the country’s government lies in instability and corruption. For example, just back in July Guatemala was thrust into the international spotlight due to election meddling. The citizens of Guatemala hold limited trust in their government due to a lack of transparency and honesty. The group was formed to oppose censorship and control. I believe if the Guatemalan government wants to fix this “security matter” they should listen to the Guatemalan citizens and their protests for change.
This article is directly related to the content of our class. The article is based on the actions of key political/state actors in Guatemala and the consequences of their actions. In class, we learned a state actor is a person who is acting on behalf of a governmental body. State/political actors tend to have a great influence on society. In some situations, they use this power to exert control over others according to their desires, interests, and motivations. Political and state actors are also held to high standards because they are given more power and authority therefore need to be held to higher standards and accountability. You can see this situation happening in Guatemala. The indigenous people of Guatemala recognize the amount of influence these politicians have, and that they could threaten democracy.